City’s assessed value up $25 million

The city’s assessed value rose by $25.3 million this year, up about 1.67 percent to $1.546 billion. That translates into roughly $1.2 million in property tax revenue. The bulk of the increase came from Carriage City Plaza Properties (CCP), assessed at around $19 million, and paying $978,000 in property taxes.

[12/12 update: Got an email from a rep at Silcon saying the Carriage City Plaza project is responsible for the entire additional $1.2 million in property tax revenue; $978,000 from Carriage City Properties + property taxes paid by individual unit owners. Trying to get some clarification from the city tax office, probably come Monday].

[12/15 CLARIFICATION: According to the city tax office, Carriage City Properties and the individual condo units — both sold and unsold — were assessed at a combined $24,146,600 ($5,414,500 for sold units + $18,732,100 for CCP portions and unsold units) and paid property taxes of approximately $1,182,941.94 ($265,256.36 sold units + $917,685.58 CCP and unsold units.]

During a discussion on the municipal budget at last month’s City Council meeting, and a question about potential future revenues, City Administrator and Redevelopment Director Peter Pelissier told the council two significant projects should provide future revenue. The city tax assessor is in the process of adding the assessment for Park Square, which begins its Payment In Lieu Of Taxes (PILOT) this year, he said, and Renaissance at Rahway, which is scheduled to be completed in about 12 months.

City taxes are expected to remain about the same thanks in part to $1.6 million in sewer utility surplus plugged in as revenue. The $41.3-million municipal budget is up about 4.5 percent, with the amount raised from taxes up 3.5 percent, to $29.7 million. The average assessed home ($133,000) paid about $2,276 in municipal property taxes last year, and Chief Financial Officer Frank Ruggiero expects roughly the same amount next year. He described a recent nj.com story about the budget wildly inaccurate and residents can expect tax bills for the first two quarters to be similar to the last two quarters.

A public hearing and final approval on the budget is scheduled for Monday during the City Council’s regular meeting.